News From 91.3 KUWSChippewa tribes to tell EPA to step in and stop GTAC mine

Story posted Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.

8/19/2014

Tribal leaders from Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota will meet with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tomorrow and Thursday in Michigan. Mike Simonson reports.

Lead by northern Wisconsin’s Chippewa Federation of Tribes, leaders will argue that the EPA must step in now and use a section of the Clean Water Act to preserve the pristine waters of Lake Superior.

The provision would stop drilling and data collection by Gogebic Taconite until federal regulators decide if the mine would do irreparable damage to the area. GTAC is proposing to build the largest open pit iron ore mine in North America in an area that would flow into the Lake Superior watershed.

“Can we trust the federal government in their endeavors to do things right for us? Probably not. They haven’t lived up to their bargain with American Indians back then. What makes them think they’re going to live up to them now.”

But Maulson says their mistrust is even greater with the state government. He says Wisconsin has passed laws favorable to the mining company and ignored the nearby tribes, even to the point of passing a law creating an off-limits zone to the proposed mining area.

“That’s in the ceded territory. Maybe we need to sue GTAC or maybe we need to sue the State of Wisconsin in our endeavors to get on that piece of property because we’re not going to do any damage to it. The tribes are not going to mine it. So I guess we need to be a partner to whatever’s going to go and really take a hard look at what the major impact would be if they were to mine.”

The EPA used a section of the Clean Water Act in February to suspend mining activity by the Pebble Mine Company because it threatened the pristine Bristol Bay in Alaska.

The Wisconsin DNR had no comment for our story.

WPR reporter Chuck Quirmbach will be in Traverse City covering the meetings.